Lifetime’s Ripped-From-the-Headlines Summer Movie Slate Revealed (Exclusive)
Starting June 11, Lifetime will begin rolling out its summer movie slate, full of films ripped from the headlines, and TheWrap can exclusively reveal that lineup.
The movies include projects with stars including Melissa Joan Hart as a mom with a hoarding disorder, Catherine Bell as a woman who takes up with an inmate she meets while rehabilitating dogs, Robin Givens as a mom of an influencer teen involved in a deadly rivalry, and “Vampire Diaries” alum Candice King as a nurse alleged to have committed gruesome murder of her lover.
So let’s dive in:
“Dirty Little Secret”
Starring Hart and Lizzie boys, “Dirty Little Secret” premieres June 11 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. It follows 17-year-old Lucy (Boys) who has been painfully isolated from her peers for years, refusing to let anyone near her house in order to hide her family secret – the overwhelming mountain of items filled in every crevice of space in her home. She quietly plans her escape to college while managing her mother Joanna’s (Joan Hart) hoarding disorder. Outwardly, a highly functioning nurse, Joanna maintains the dysfunction in their home with an obsessive grip but after a tragedy, Lucy must decide if she will hide her mother’s secret, or expose it to the world.
The film, inspired by the book of the same name by C.J. Omololu, is directed by Linda-Lisa Hayter, with a script from Doris Egan, Nancey Silvers, and Annie Frisbie. Linda Berman serves as an executive producer and Navid Soofi serves as a producer.
“Suitcase Killer: The Melanie McGuire Story”
Dropping June 18 at 8 p.m. ET/PT, “Suitcase Killer” stars King, Michael Roark, Jackson Hurst and Wendie Malick. The movie is based on the story of Melanie McGuire (King), “an exceptional fertility nurse, married to her ex-Navy husband Bill (Roark) and doting mother of two boys. When she falls for Brad (Hurst), a doctor at her clinic, and gets entangled in a steamy love affair, Melanie does the unthinkable. After drugging and murdering Bill, she dismembers him and places the body parts into three suitcases, throwing them into Chesapeake Bay. But when the suitcases are found on the shores of Virginia Beach, an investigation is launched leading to Melanie as the prime suspect. Led by the efforts of assistant attorney general Patti Prezioso (Malick), authorities eventually bring Melanie to justice, who despite being convicted, continues to maintain her innocence,” per Lifetime.
“Suitcase Killer: The Melanie McGuire Story” is produced by Swirl Films and Big Dreams Entertainment. Manu Boyer and Kim Raver are executive producers. Nicole L. Thompson is making her directorial debut as part of the Broader Focus initiative. The script comes from Peter O’Brien.
“He’s Not Worth Dying For”
Starring Givens, Hilda Martin, Rachel Boyd, Lachlan Quarmby and Lochyln Munro, “He’s Not Worth Dying For” premieres June 25 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. It “follows the intertwined real and social media lives of Isla (Boyd), a 19-year-old girl who has established herself as a beauty and fashion influencer and Grace (Martin), the expected valedictorian of her class with hopes of a veterinary career. Though both are very different, they unknowingly share one thing in common — Jake (Quarmby) — who is dating them both without their knowledge. When Isla and Grace discover that Jake was cheating on them, the girls turn on each other in a jealous rivalry and use their arsenal of social media platforms to badmouth and attack one another. While their followers take sides and pit them against each other, their hatred for one another escalates into a real-life fight that ultimately turns deadly. Givens stars as Grace’s mother, Cher, while Munro stars as the District Attorney investigating the case.
The film is produced by Doomed Productions Inc for Lifetime. Tim Johnson, Orly Adelson, Stacy Mandelberg and Jon Eskenas serve as executive producers. Kevin Fair directs and the script is from Jacqueline Zambrano.
“Jailbreak Lovers”
“Army Wives” alum Catherine Bell and Tom Stevens star in this one, which premieres July 2 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. “Jailbreak Lovers” follows “Toby (Bell), a woman who always played by the rules. Toby never ran a red light, married the only boy she ever dated, raised a family and went to church. She did everything she was supposed to do. When Toby loses her job and starts a non-profit to rehabilitate abused, rescued dogs at the local prison no one could have anticipated that she would end up on the run, shacked up with her younger lover John (Stevens), a convicted murderer. The star-crossed lovers hatch a plan to break John out of prison by smuggling him out in one of the dog crates, sparking a federal manhunt.”
Crate Productions Inc. produces the film for Lifetime. Bell, Angela Mancuso, Stacy Mandelberg and director Katie Boland are executive producers. Supervising producers are Oliver DeCaigny and Tom Stanford Anne-Marie Hess and Jodie Burke wrote the script.